Machina Capital S.A.S. Acquires 721 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 24.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,633 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 721 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 50.0% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 293.8% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 122.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays cut their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $650.17.

MSCI Stock Up 0.6%

MSCI stock traded up $3.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $546.49. 998,785 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,915. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $564.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $566.70. The company has a market cap of $42.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.19, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.32.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is 49.48%.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.